Dear Friend,

Thank you for adding your name to the thousands of pastors, Christians, and evangelical leaders from across the country who have signed the WeGetIt.org declaration! If a million Christians sign this statement, we can send an important message to our leaders that Biblical principles and factual evidence, not media hype about things like global warming, should guide our care of the environment and the poor.

Every week, the WeGetIt.org Wednesday Bulletin provides updates on the stewardship-related news of our day, and offers some practical ways to think Biblically about these issues. As you read, please be thinking of the people you know who would benefit from this information. Then, forward this message to your friends and encourage them to sign the declaration.

New Research Rains on Global Warming's Parade

The changing winds of climate science should give our leaders pause. According to a paper submitted for publication this summer, the climate models have been getting it backward; cirrus clouds — a key warming ingredient in doomsday scenarios — actually act as a safety valve, diminishing (not increasing) as surface temperatures rise.

Dr. Roy Spencer, principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville's National Space Science Technology Center, concludes that "climate sensitivity" — the amount of warming to be expected from doubled CO2 in the atmosphere — is only about 0.5°C, not 3.0°C. It now seems that, when "God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31), that included the thermostatic effect of clouds.

One practical implication of Spencer's research is that even an international agreement like the Kyoto Protocol would lower the average global temperature by only 0.03°C by the year 2100. Considering the staggering $27 to $54 trillion estimated cost, we must ask whether this is too much to pay for so little effect. That's especially so when we remember that the poor — especially those in the developing world, who spend a much higher proportion of their income on energy, food, and other necessities — would be hardest hit by rising costs.

The Benefits of Enhanced Carbon Dioxide

Since about 1980, observations of Earth's surface from satellites show a 6.2% increase in plant growth around the planet. Plant growth has increased over about 25% of Earth's land and decreased on only about 7%.

Why the increase? Some may be from warming, but much of it is certainly from increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. (Remember, plants need CO2 to survive.) On the average, for every doubling of atmospheric CO2, there is a 35% increase in plant growth efficiency. This means rising CO2, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels for energy to produce and distribute all the goods (like food, clothing, and shelter) and services people use, is a good thing.

But poorly grounded fears of global warming jeopardize the continuance of this positive trend. Global warming alarmists want to severely reduce CO2 emissions, at enormous cost to the world's economy, in hopes of preventing some tiny amount of warming.

The WeGetIt.org campaign is working to protect the poor, whose food costs fall as rising CO2 raises crop yields but rise as anti-global warming policies push up energy prices. If you haven't yet signed the WeGetIt.org declaration, please take a minute to sign it now. If you already have, please send it to your friends and ask them to join you in caring for the environment and the poor, Biblically!

Counting Costs of Global Warming Policies

In one of His parables, Jesus asked, "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'" (Luke 14:28-30)

The basic spiritual point of this parable, as the context shows, is that those who consider following Jesus should think first of what it will cost them.

Foundational to this teaching of Jesus, rich with spirutual insight, is a simple underlying principle we must not miss: The wise person, facing choices among competing lawful options, carefully compares their benefits and costs before choosing.

This is why the WeGetIt.org campaign highly recommends the work of the Copenhagen Consensus Center in painstakingly counting the benefits and costs of competing policies to respond to the world's biggest challenges, including: malnutrition and hunger, trade and subsidies, disease, education, women and development, global warming, sanitation and water, conflict, air pollution, and terrorism.

After asking experts on various problems and their potential solutions to defend their preferred policies as strongly as they could, the Copenhagen Consensus Center gave the resulting papers, pro and con, to eight of the world's leading economists, including five Nobel laureates, and asked them to evaluate and rank all the proposals in terms of their benefit/cost ratios.

While policies on health, trade, and education topped the list, two out of three global warming-related solutions were rated dead last. Only one ranked in the top half of the policies, and that only barely: research and development in low-carbon energy technologies (#14).

Hollywood hype and media buzz about global warming are not sufficient grounds to decide our priorities. It's time for us to do benefit/cost analysis, and make wise choices. As the WeGetIt.org declaration puts it, "With billions suffering in poverty, environmental policies must not further oppress the world’s poor by denying them basic needs. Instead, we must help people fulfill their God-given potential as producers and stewards."

Thanks for reading! Word of mouth is the most effective way to get the truth out. Help us reach 1,000,000 signers by forwarding this email to your friends. Together, we can take a stand for truth and for the poor.

Gratefully,

-- The WeGetIt.org campaign team